Christopher Andersen - William and Kate: A Royal Love Story

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Also by Christopher Andersen

Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage

Somewhere in Heaven: The Remarkable Love Story of Dana and Christopher Reeve

After Diana: William, Harry, Charles, and the Royal House of Windsor

Barbra: The Way She Is

American Evita: Hillary Clintons Path to Power

Sweet Caroline: Last Child of Camelot

George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage

Dianas Boys: William and Harry and the Mother They Loved

The Day John Died

Bill and Hillary: The Marriage

The Day Diana Died

Jackie After Jack: Portrait of the Lady

An Affair to Remember: The Remarkable Love Story of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy

Jack and Jackie: Portrait of an American Marriage

Young Kate

The Best of Everything (with John Marion)

The Serpents Tooth

The Book of People

Father

The Name Game

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First Gallery Books hardcover edition December 2010

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Designed by Joseph Rutt

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

ISBN 978-1-4516-2145-7
ISBN 978-1-4516-2147-1 (ebook)

PHOTO CREDITS

Alpha/Globe Photos:

For my mother, Jeanette Andersen

I put it to William, particularly, that if you find someone you love in life, you must hang on to that love and look after it.... You must protect it.

Diana

Theirs was destined from the very start to be one of the most celebrated unions of the twenty-first century. He was the dashing, charismatic young prince who would someday be crowned king of England. She was the stunningly beautiful commoner from working-class stock who won his heart when they were both barely out of their teens. Together, Prince William and Kate Middleton somehow managed to defy all odds to forge and sustain an enduring love amidst the scandals, power struggles, tragedies, and general dysfunction that are the hallmarks of Britains Royal Family.

Along the way, they became the most written-about, gossiped-about, admired, and envied young couple of their generation. Just as a global audience of more than 800 million people tuned in to watch live coverage of the Wedding of the Century in 1981the marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencerthe marriage of their elder son to his college sweetheart would captivate the world.

With good reason. Not only is William heir to the British throne, but he is also heir to the compelling and complicated legacy of Diana, arguably the most celebrated woman of the modern age. Three times as many peoplean estimated 2.5 billionwatched Dianas 1997 funeral as watched her wedding, and the image of William and his brother, Prince Harry, walking behind her horse-drawn casket through the streets of London was burned indelibly into the minds of a generation.

Their grief was ours as well, for we felt we knew Dianas boysWilliam in particular. His birth was breathlessly heralded on front pages and magazine covers around the world, and we watched Wills grow from naughty enfant terrible to gangling adolescent to dynamic adultall while his parents stormy marriage and then Dianas death in a Paris car crash sent shock waves through Buckingham Palace and around the world. The bittersweet truth was that we got to see William grow to become the impressive young man his mother never knew.

Yet for most of their decade-long romance, William and Kate managed to conduct their love affair largely away from the unremitting media glare. It certainly helped that Fleet Street, still acutely aware that William believed the press had literally chased his mother to her death, was inclined for a time to keep a some-what more respectful distance from the prince. As a result, even as the wedding approached, the true nature of Williams royal relationship remained a tantalizing mystery.

They are both impossibly attractive, disarmingly charming, young, athletic, elegant, exciting. More than any other couple in memory, William and Kate stand astride the yawning chasm that separates centuries of tradition from the ever-shifting realities of the electronic age.

Glamour, power, sex, wealth, betrayal, scandal, tragedy, adventure, history, heartache, duty, and of course traditionnot to mention the dreams and aspirations of a generationare all embodied in the handsome future king and his stunning commoner queen.

It remains to be seen whether they will follow Dianas lead and connect with their subjects in a way no Windsors ever had before. For now, what William and Kate have given us is more than enough: part glittering fairy tale, part searing family drama, part political potboiler, part heart-stopping cliff-hangerand, in all ways, an affair to remember.

There is only one Princess of Wales in peoples minds. And only when Prince William gets married will it be time for another one.

Dianas friend Vivienne Parry, on the marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla

She steps into the sultry August night air, clutching her Longchamp bag to her side with one hand while trying to shield her eyes with the other. The flashes seem to be coming from every direction this time, and in the white-hot glare she feels as if she is about to lose her balance. Guided by the firm hand of her driver, or perhaps just a concerned friend, she somehow angles her way through the maelstrom of photographers until she reaches the waiting car. In one smooth motion, she lowers her head, ducks in, and slides across the backseat.

Before the door slams shut behind herand before anyone inside has had the chance to buckle up their shoulder beltsthe driver floors the accelerator, pressing his passengers back into their seats. They speed down one narrow side street, turn abruptly, then hurtle down another, but these maneuvers are not enough for them to elude her pursuers; she can see their headlights in the side-view mirrors, vanishing as they round a corner, only to reappear a split second later.